James Harden breaks unwanted 71-year NBA record and gets serious heat from three-time champion

The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves in an 0-2 hole in their Eastern Conference semifinals match up with the Detroit Pistons.

James Harden is once again, as he has done throughout the post-season across the course of his career, struggling to find his shooting rhythm.

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In the Cavs’ 107-97 defeat in Game 2, Harden – who is widely considered one of the greatest players to never win a ring – shot just 3-of-13 from the field, including 0-4 from beyond the arc for 10 points to go wth six rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Only two of his 10 points came in the second half.

In doing so, the 36-year-old recorded his 20th playoff game in which he shot 25 percent or less from the field with a minimum of 10 shot attempts, seeing him break a tie with Bob Cousy for the most in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55), according to ESPN insights.

Furthermore, in 182 career playoff games for Harden, his Game 2 struggles marked the 36th time in which he has had three or fewer made field goals, which equates to nearly 20 percent of his games played.

To add insult to injury, it was also the 46th time in which the 17-year veteran had as many, or more, turnovers than made field goals, equating to over 25 percent of his career playoff games.

In the series against the Pistons so far, Harden is averaging just 16 points from 32.1 percent from the field and just 9.1 percent from three-point distance.

But Cavs teammate Donovan Mitchell isn’t worried about Harden’s recent slump.

“He’s James Harden; we’re not sitting here worried,” Mitchell said. “He’s going to figure this out.”

Harden receives the heat

Following the Cavs’ loss, Harden was on the end of some serious heat from three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem.

“There is 5 guys who have been in the NBA that have went to the playoffs 17-plus consecutive times -[John] Stockton, [Karl] Malone, Jason Kidd, Tony Parker, James Harden,” Haslem said.

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“Why the hell are you turning the ball over so much? You have been in the playoffs. You know what it’s like to be in the playoffs. You understand playoff intensity. Why the hell are you turning the ball over?

“It’s so self inflicted wounds. One handed passes. Things that I would take my son out the game for if I was coaching him for throwing passes like that.

“Why are you having these kind of passes and these plays in the second round of the playoffs? I don’t understand that.”

But big UD was not the only one who was critical of Harden’s performance as his former teammate Kendrick Perkins also weighed in, questioning the amount of minutes he is seeing on the floor.

“It’s facts over feelings,’ Perk said on Sports Center. “We’re gonna state the obvious. The obvious is he should not be playing the minutes that he’s playing right now. James Harden has been a liability on both ends of the floor.

“He’s not there. He’s costing his team possessions, and on top of that, he’s not defending anyone.”

Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson has chosen to deploy Harden for 35.1 minutes a game – the most on the team – but could be considering making some adjustments ahead of the series shifting back to Cleveland.

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